Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46323
Coalition Has Nullified Taliban’s Spring Offensive, General Says
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 6, 2007 – Coalition forces have the upper hand against Afghan insurgents despite previous fears of a bloody Taliban spring offensive aided by Iranian technology, the deputy director for operations on the Joint Staff said here today.
“I will tell you, I think in fact the offensive is not theirs but ours,” Army Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins told Pentagon reporters in a news conference.
Coalition troops have been highly active in Afghanistan’s eastern and southern sectors, Wiggins said, and the Taliban’s leadership and fighting force has suffered “serious losses.”
Mullah Dadullah Lang, the Taliban’s top military commander and “functional leader,” was killed May 11 in the Ganstrah district of Helmand province, Wiggins announced during a May 16 operational briefing here.
“Dadullah Lang was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of the Hazaras in Bamyan province when the Taliban was in power. He was the lead proponent of suicide bombings and supervised dozens of Afghan beheadings. He was also behind the recent kidnappings of a Western journalist and French aid worker,” said Wiggins, who described Lang’s death as a “serious setback” for the enemy.
Today, the general expressed concern over insurgents’ increasing use of complex asymmetric warfare tactics, including car and suicide bombings, and improvised explosive device and explosively formed penetrator attacks. EFPs are shaped charges designed to pierce armored vehicles.
“We’re taking a look at a move toward a more asymmetric type of targeting or attacks through the use of IEDs,” he said. “And a particular concern with the IEDs is the technology associated with these IEDs.”
Wiggins said military officials believe technology involved in such bombing attacks is being imported from Iran. “We have seen some technology that tends us to believe that it’s coming in from Iran. … We know there’s a flow,” he said.
Iran also is exporting technology to insurgents in Iraq, Wiggins said, citing recent statements by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. “Secretary Gates (talked) about the Iranian technology that seems to be flowing into Iraq. And the fact of the matter is, we need to stem that type of technology,” he said.
In Iraq, attacks involving EFPs are occurring more frequently, Wiggins said.
“EFPs are a concern,” he said. “We have seen a slight increase in that type of technology over the past several months.”
During dialogues with Iranian diplomats, Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, addressed Iran’s problematic exportation of weapons technology, the general said.
“One of the points that he brought up is we need to thwart the influx of this type of weapon systems coming into Iraq,” Wiggins said. “The bottom line is actions speak louder than words with regard to these particular types of things.”
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46318
Accused Terrorist Transferred to Guantanamo Facility
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 6, 2007 – An accused terrorist believed to have helped al Qaeda groups in Africa obtain arms has been transferred to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Abdullahi Sudi Arale was detained in the Horn of Africa region recently, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. He is suspected of being a courier between the al Qaeda network in East Africa and al Qaeda in Pakistan.
Arale is considered an enemy combatant and a high-value detainee, Whitman said.
Since his return from Pakistan to Somalia in September 2006, he has held a leadership role in the organization set up to challenge the transitional government in the country.
Defense officials said Arale has been assisting various East Africa al Qaeda-affiliated extremists in acquiring weapons and explosives. He also has helped facilitate extremist travel by providing false documents for terrorists traveling into Somalia.
Arale played a significant role in the emergence of the Council of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu. The courts have evolved into a quasi-governmental entity with troops and weaponry. They controlled Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, but left after Ethiopian troops entered the country in December.
Arale joins about 385 detainees in the Guantanamo facility, Whitman said, adding that he will be questioned about his al Qaeda dealings. Many detainees at the facility have provided information essential to understanding how al Qaeda operates and preventing future attacks, Whitman said.
Arale will go through a combatant status review tribunal, in which he will be given the opportunity to review an unclassified summary of evidence against him and contest his enemy-combatant status. The International Committee of the Red Cross will be granted access to him.